Cop arrested for murdering citizen in Sahiwal

LAHORE: A cop was arrested for allegedly murdering a citizen over a minor dispute in Sahiwal, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Inspector General (IG) Punjab Faisal Shahkar took notice of the incident. Following his directives, the police official was arrested on the charges of murdering a citizen in Sahiwal.

Sahiwal police arrested the accused cop after his identification through footage. The arrested policeman was identified as constable Bilal Akram from Ghalla Mandi police station in Sahiwal.

According to DPO Sahiwal, he gunned down a citizen over a minor dispute. A case was also lodged against the accused cop, DPO Sadiq Baloch added.

Earlier in March, the Sindh High Court had changed the life sentence of two policemen into capital punishment over an appeal in murder of four Chaman traders in Karachi.

The Anti-Car-Lifting Cell (ACLC) policemen had gunned down four Chaman-based traders – Haji Mohammad Tahir Achakzai, Obaidullah Khan Tareen, Mohammad Ibrahim Achakzai and Zainuddin Khan Achakzai – on pretext of being robbers on December 31, 2008 in an alleged encounter at Khalid Bin Waleed Road of Karachi.

The Anti-Terrorism Court had awarded death sentence to five policemen for killing four Chaman-based traders in alleged encounter.

Those awarded death sentence were SHO Anti Car Lifting Cell Malik Irshad, head constable Zahoor Khan, Zaheer Mirza, Noor Muhammad and Zafar Ali.

The case was sent by the Supreme Court to the ATC for re-trial, in which two policemen Zafar Ahmed and Noor Muhammad were acquitted while the conviction of Zahoor Khan and Zaheer Mirza was commuted to life sentence.

Accused Inspector Irshad was died during proceedings of the case.